Front attachments of this type, comprising two rigidly interconnected negative lens members bracketing an axially shiftable positive lens member, are well known in the art; see, for example, British Pat. No. 449,434 and related essays by the inventor Gramatzki on the theory of so-called "transfactors". A system of this type has also been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,165,341.
In these prior objectives, according to their published or calculable data, the total axial length of the attachment (i.e. the distance between the outer vertices of the two negative lens members) substantially equals or even exceeds the focal length of the shiftable positive lens member. This results in a noticeable loss of brightness at the image periphery unless the diameter of the front lens is made impractically large.